Grid-type radiator grille



Sept. 3, 1935. B. GREEN GRID TYPE RADIATQR GRILLE Filed July 11, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 3, 1935 1 GREEN 2,013,384

GRID TYPE RADIATOR GRILLE Fiied July 11, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jig/Z Lee ghee/7 Patented Sept. 3, 1935 PATENT @FFEQE 2,013,384 GRID-TYPE RADIATOR GRILLE Lee R. Green,

Lakewood, Ohio, assignor to lhe Globe Machine,& Stamping Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a.

corporation of Ohio Application July 11, 1934, Serial No. 734,611

6 Claims.

I My invention relates to metal grilles of the grid type in which generally parallel blades are interlocked with spaced cross-bars, as now used to some extent forguarding the frontal openings in the radiator shells of automobiles.

In one of its major objects, my invention aims to provide a grille of this type which can be speedily and inexpensively manufactured both in fiat-front forms and in V-front or other forms having a non-planular frontal face, and which will have adequate rigidity even when simple and quite thin steel strips are used for both the blades and the cross-bars.

More particularly, my invention aims to provide a grille in which each cross-bar extends through slots in the blades and has its entire width engaging each blade, and in which each cross-member has integral shoulder portions engaging both sides of each blade to interlock the cross-member rigidly with the blades. Also, my invention aims to provide a grille construction for this purpose'which will readily permit each cross-member to be simultaneously anchored to all adjacent blades (for a flat-fronted grille) by a simple cross-b'ar-twisting procedure, or anchored to the blades in one lateral half of the grille when the latter is to have a non-planular front face.

Furthermore, my invention aims to provide a grille of the 'abov' e recited characteristics which will readily permit the faces of flat cross-members to be disposed parallel to one another regardless of a convexing or concaving of part or all of the front edges of the blades, which will readily permit the providing of either integral or attached frontal ornamenting beads or tubes on the blades, and which will readily permit each lateral half of a V-front grille to be manufactured separately and thereafter fastened easily and rigidly to the other half.

Illustrative of the above and also of further objects of the same,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a V-front grille embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a portion of one of the blades and of one of the crossbarsjs howing the preferred twisting of the'crossbar about its general longitudinal axis.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the anchored cross-bar which extends through and beyond a single blade.

. Fig. 5 is an enlarged and fragmentary side elevation taken from the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view allied to Fig. 3, showing an unbeaded blade and showing the cross-bar as twisted about its rear edge.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of part of the cross-bar part in Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a vertical section through two adjacent blades and a cross-bar anchored to these blades without twisting the cross-bar, including portions of a tool for offsetting parts of the blade to effect this anchoring.

Fig. 8a is an enlarged perspective view of a part of the cross-bar of Fig. 5.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a forwardly concaved portion of a tube-ornamented blade for use according to my invention, including a part of one cross-bar.

Fig. 10 is a horizontal section taken along the line |0|6 of Fig. 9.

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of a forwardly convexed part of a blade in which the slots have their longer axes converging successively.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary and diagrammatic front elevation of a portion of a grille in which the blades converge downwardly.

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary elevation of a tool for simultaneously twisting a plurality of crossbars into anchoring relation to a blade.

Fig. 14 is a plan View of a portion of a grille embodying my invention and presenting a forwardly bowed front.

Grid-type grilles have heretofore been constructed (as for example after the manner of my copending applications #723,948 filed May 4, 1934, and #731,663 filed June 21, 1934) by slidably assembling blades and cross-bars after the manner of the partitions in an egg carton or candy box. In these grilles, each blade has slots extending rearwardly into it and each cross-bar has slots extending forwardly into it. Consequently, each cross-bar must be much wider than the length of the blade slots through which it partly extends, but the added Width does not aid in supporting the cross-bar, and the latching of the blades to the cross-bars usually requires an undesirable number of operations. 45

In my here presented grille, each cross-bar is supported for its entire width by the blades across which it extends, so that the cross-bars can be of considerably less width than the blades. Thus, in Figs. 2 and 3 each blade B has counterpart transverse slots S closed at both ends, and each cross-bar C is of a cross-section slidably fitting these slots, so that the blades and crossbars can initially be assembled speedily by sliding the cross-bars through the slots of the blades.

Then, with these grille parts held in their desired disposition by a suitable jig such as any one familiar with grille manufacturing can readily provide, each cross-bar is rigidly interlocked with all of the blades through which it extends by deforming portions of each cross-bar to present shoulders engaging each side face of every blade.

For example, when the upright blades B and B in Fig. 8 are held in a stationary position after an initially entirely fiat-faced cross-bar C has been slid through alined slots in these two blades, a simultaneous downward movement of the die parts D, D and D will deform the illustrated part of the cross-bar by downwardly offsetting the major portion C of the cross-bar between the two blades. This leaves the said cross-bar portion C connected to the portions '1 (which are respectively Within the slots in the two blades) by shoulder portions C bearing respectively against the opposed faces of the two blades, and also provides the cross-bar with allied shoulder portions engaging the oppositely directed faces of the two blades.

In other words, each part of the cross-bar adjacent to a blade is deformed into an inverted trough which has its trough bottom '1 extending through a slot in the blade, and also has at least the upper portions of its trough walls C (Fig. 811) respectively engaging opposite faces of the blade so as to interlock the cross-bar and the blades against relative movement longitudinally of the cross-bar.

However, during this procedure, the metal of the cross-bar may not stretch suificiently between each two blades during such an offsetting operation to furnish the stock of the depending (trough wall) portions C which I have previously termed trough walls. Consequently, the crossbar will shorten in length so as to space the blades more closely than they were prior to the said ofi-setting operation.

In practice, I preferably reduce the stretching of the metal by twisting the said major portions C of the cross-bar between each two blades, instead of bodily moving each such portion. in a direction at right angles to its upper flat face, thereby also using tools which can more readily reach between rather closely spaced blades. Thus, Figs. 6 and '7 show a cross-bar in which each of the parts between two blades has been twisted downwardly about its rear edge, so that the shoulder portions C are triangular and the trough formations decreased in depth from a maximum at the forward edge of the cross-bar to zero at the rear edge.

In developing my invention still further, I have found that I can reduce the stretching of the metal of the cross-bar still more by making the twists in the cross-bar about its longitudinal axis A (Fig. 4), so that each cross-bar part adjacent to a blade is deformed to constitute two relatively inverted troughs which decrease in depth respectively from opposite edges of the cross-bar toward the middle of the cross-bar, the bottoms of the two troughs being continuations of each other and at an angle to the flat faces of the major portions of the cross-bar.

With the just described deformations, each face of the adjacent blade is engaged by two crossarm shoulders (C and C having triangular side faces and respectively extending upwardly and downwardly from the adjacent flat portion C of the cross-bar, each of which shoulders extends for nearly half the width of the cross-bar. By thus providing two oppositely directed shoulders on the cross-arm at each side of a blade, I am able to secure a firm anchoring by a relatively small twisting of the major portions of the cross-bar with respect to the slot-housed (channel-back) portions, namely with a twist angle I (Fig. 9) of not more than about 10 degrees, thereby avoiding an undue stretching of the metal and also facilitating the twisting operation.

In practice, all of the twists in cross-bar portions between consecutive blades are preferably made in the same direction so that the cross-bar will have the major portions of its upper face in a common plane, and when the blades are straight-edged all of the shoulder-producing twists in cross-bar portions adjacent to a blade can be made simultaneously. Illustrative of this, Fig. 13 is a fragmentary side elevation of a multiple cross-arm twisting tool including a base 2 having spaced risers 3 and 4, to the latter of which an approximately upright lever 5 is pivoted at its lower end.

A link 6 extending parallel to the said lever is pivoted at its lower end to the other riser 3 on an axis 1 parallel to and at the same elevation as the pivot axis 8 of the lever, and the said link and lever are connected by parallel links 9 and Ill. Extending transversely of both of the links 9 and I and downwardly beyond the lower bar II] are parallel bars H each of which is pivotally connected to both of the links 9 and Ill on horizontal axes parallel to the lever axis 8, and each of which has its width corresponding substantally to the spacing l2 (Fig. 3) between the nearer longitudinal edges of two consecutive slots in a blade for the grille. In addition, the base 2 has suitable upwardly facing shoulders l3 on which the blades B of a (loose) blade and crossbar assembly will seat for supporting this assembly at such an elevation that the horizontal plane P through the said pivot axes 1 and 8 will extend also through the axes of the cross-bars C.

With the cross-bars supported at the just recited elevation, the parallel-motion connections beween the lever and the twist-effecting bars I I will cause each such bar to rock about an axis It in the said plane P when the lever is swung to the desired side, so that each bar-engaged cross-bar portion will be twisted about the axis of the cross-bar in the same direction and to the same angular extent as the movement of the lever. However, the tool of Fig. 13 is merely presented as illustrative of the manner in which a plurality of cross-bars can simultaneously be provided with anchoring formations. I

Since the twist-effecting bars H in the tool of Fig. 13 need not extend transversely of the blades beyond the cross-bars, and since the crossbars can be spaced by considerable distances from the ornamenting beads l5 (Fig. 3) of frontally beaded blades, my here presented anchoring arrangement readily permits the use of such beads on the blades as initially manufactured, and also of the attaching of auxiliary split tubes E6 (of chrome-plated metal or other finish contrasting with the blade proper) when this is desired.

Moreover, since the anchoring operation can readily be performed separately for producing the cross-bar shoulders adjacent to any one blade, and since the cross-bars (when initially bowed) can readily be slid through correspondingly positioned slots in non-parallel. blades, my presented grille construction is equally feasible both with parallel blades (as in Figs. 1 and 2) and with longitudinally converging blades B as in Fig. 12. So also, if the cross-bars C initially are bowed edgewise, this same construction can readily be used for making forwardly bowed or barrelfrontedgrilles with upright or substantially upright blades, as shown diagrammatically in Fig. 14.

When the anchoring shoulders on the crossbars are made by a twisting operation, as described in connection with Figs. 3 and 6, the major portions of each rectangular cross-bar have their flat faces tilted or skewed at an angle to the longer edges of the slots through which the trough portions of the cross-bars extend. Allowance can readily be made for this by tilting the longer edges of the slots in the cross-bars to a corresponding angular extent out of alinement with the desired planes of the flat faces of the cross-bars, as shown in Fig. 9.

However, these slots in a blade need not be coparallel-as is necessary in the case of the edge slots of blades used for an egg-partition type of grid assembly-since the twisting of each crossbar adjacent to a blade can be performed separately, so that part or all of the slots in a blade can be out of parallelism. Thus, Fig. 11 shows a part of a blade which curves rearward downwardly, and in which the lower slots are positioned so as to tilt the blades to a correspondingly different extent.

Where the grille is to present a V-front effect with the blades upright or approximately so, as in Fig. 1, each lateral half of the grille preferably first has cross-bars of a correspondingly shorter length inserted through, and anchored to, half of the blades. To afford an expeditious and inexpensive connection between two such grille halves, I construct each such grille half so that most of the cross-bars extend only slightly beyond the laterally inward blade E8 of that grille portion, as shown in Fig. 1. Then I make other cross-bars suificiently longer to extend beyond the proposed vertical center line A of the grille and twist the free ends [9 of each of these bars a quarter-turn about the axis of the bar to afford a connection to the other half of the grille.

Such connections can readily be made either by having the twisted end is of two corresponding cross-bars lap over each other, as in Fig. 2 and as shown both in an upper and a lower portion of Fig. l, and then securing these to each other by a spot weld W. Or, twisted ends is of unalined cross-bars in the two halves of the grille can be spot welded to a common connecting bar 29, as likewise shown in 1. So also, groups of adjacent cross-bars may have their laterally outward ends it twisted a quarter turn and secured by spot welds W to a common bar 22 which can then be fastened to the radiator shell front (the aperture of which is shorm by the dotted line 23).

In constructing grilles after the here disclosed manner I have found that I can secure ample rigidity while using cross-bars of much smaller width than the blades, and that I can obtain this rigidity even when both the blades and the cross-bars are made of a much lighter grade of steel than has heretofore been found necessary for grid-type grilles-as for example of steel ..018 inch thick. Consequently, I can effect a decided saving in the weight and cost of the required metal, in addition to securing the advantages of an inexpensive assembling and a speedy anchoring of the blades to the cross-bars.

Moreover, the angle at which the said major portions of the cross-bars are skewed with re- 3 spect to the slot-housed portions of these bars can be quite small, as for example only five or six degrees, so that the shoulder portions of these cross-bars are inconspicuous in the completed grille.

However, while I have heretofore described my invention in connection with the embodiments including numerous desirable details of construction and arrangement, it is to be understood that changes might be made in many ways without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A grille comprising spaced and parallel blades presenting similar longitudinal edges in a, common surface; the blades being provided with spaced rectangular and closed-ended transverse slots of uniform size, and the said slots similarly positioned in the several blades; and cross-bars each extending tln'ough similarly positioned slots in the several blades; each crossbar comprising alined major portions each disposed between two consecutive blades, and inverted trough-like portions each connecting two consecutive portions; each such trough-like portion having its trough bottom extending through and substantially fitting a slot in a. blade, and having a portion of each side wall of the trough bearing against one face of a blade.

2. A grille as per claim 1, in which each of the said major portions of a cross-bar has its upper face at a minor acute angle to the upper faces of the backs of the two trough-like portions connected by the major portion.

3. A grille comprising spaced and parallel blades presenting similar longitudinal edges in a common surface; the blades being provided with spaced, rectangular and closed-ended transverse slots of uniform size, and the said slots being similarly positioned in the several blades; and cross-bars each extending through similarly positioned slots in the several blades; each crossbar comprising alined major portions each disposed between two consecutive blades, and relatively shorter portions respectively connecting consecutive major portions; each of the said shorter portions consisting of two relatively inverted trough-like parts presenting their trough bottoms in alinement with each other and extending through a slot in a, blade, two side walls of each of the said trough-like parts having portions thereof bearing respectively against opposite faces of the blade housing the trough bottom of the same trough-like cross-bar part.

4. An upright V-front grille comprising two grille halves connected to each other at the apex of the grille; each grille half comprising spaced generally parallel and upright blades; and spaced cross-bars extending transversely of and secured to the blades; the two grille halves being disposed side by side with the cross-bars in the two halves of the grille in alinement and with the adjacent side-edge blades of the two grille halves spaced from each other; some of the alined crossbars in the two halves of the grille being freely spaced endwise from each other between the said adjacent side-edge blades; certain other alined cross-bars in the two halves of the grille having their adjacent ends overlapping and fastened to each other; the cross-bars being metal strips presenting flat faces upwards, and the said overlapping cross-bar ends being twisted so as to dispose their fiat faces upright.

5. An upright V-front grille comprising two disposed between the said adjacent side-edge blades of the two halves of the grille and secured to the inner ends of cross-bars of both halves of the grille.

6. A V-front grille as per claim 5, in which the cross-bars are metal strips presenting fiat faces upwards, in which the connecting bar pre: sents its fiat face forward, and in which the said inner ends of cross-bars are twisted to dispose their flat faces in flatwise engagement with the 10 connecting bar.

LEE B. GREEN. 

